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Astenbeck Capital Management, which is 80% owned by manager Andrew Hall, focuses almost entirely on energy and other basic materials stocks. The fund recently filed its 13F for the third quarter of 2012, disclosing many of the long equity positions that it owned at the end of September, and while investors shouldn't blindly copy any manager's holdings, we believe that they are a good starting point to find stocks worthy of further research. In this case, Astenbeck's two favorite stocks were both energy companies. Read on for a brief analysis of Statoil (STO) and Total SA (TOT) and see what stocks the fund has liked in the past.

Astenbeck reported owning 2.4 million shares of Statoil. That company's $76 billion market cap places it at only 8x consensus earnings for 2013, a fairly cheap price compared to many large oil companies. Statoil is also notable in that it recently purchased Brigham Exploration and Production, a Bakken Shale-focused oil company, and so has a sizable position in one of the hottest shale plays in the onshore U.S. In the third quarter of 2012, Statoil reported revenue about flat from a year earlier but a 38% increase in earnings. This runs in contrast to many other oil companies whose net income was down. Statoil also pays a dividend yield in the 3% range, though investors should note that it is not a constant payment, but rather one that changes from year to year....470 more words left in this article. To read them, just click below and try Real Money FREE for 14 days.